Hacking the Beats

bpm
—
bar
—

Deck B is empty

Load a second beat here, then bring it in with the crossfader or Mix.

Live-coded music · press play

 

The code is the score. It plays itself — you mix it.

    Song knobs

    Channels

    M mute · S solo · name focuses

    Pads

    hold

    Master

    A
    B

    This is music made by code.

    Every sound you hear comes from the code above, running live in your browser. Press play and watch it work. Sign in, free, to take the controls.

    We store your name, email address and the songs you save. Privacy · About

    Beats

    My songs

      Beats

      1. Speak and Spell 2 136 bpm

      Click a song to load it on the deck in focus, or pick a deck with A / B.

      Account

      An account opens the whole site: the decks, every knob, editing the code, and your own songs, kept in your account and shareable by link. It is free.

      We store your name, email address and the songs you save. See the privacy notice.

      Unsaved changes

      Admin

      The site's beats, in this order. Anyone can play the featured beat, signed in or not. A beat switched to Members can be played by everyone who is signed in. Every other beat is yours alone.

        Add a beat

        A file is a strudel.cc export. Patterns already here are skipped. A new beat is yours alone until you open it to members.

        Hacking the Beats

        Every sound here is made by the code on screen, running live in your browser. Each knob is a slider() from the song, each channel is one of its labelled patterns, and two decks let you bring a second beat in over the first. The code is yours to change: click in it and type.

        Keys

        Space
        Play or stop the deck in focus
        X
        Switch focus between deck A and deck B
        M
        Mix: start the other deck in time and fade across
        ← →
        Previous or next beat
        1–9 0 - =
        Mute channels 1 to 12
        Q W E A S D
        Hold a pad: echo, drop, wash, half, stutter, no drums. With Shift it stays on.
        [ ]
        Jump back or forward four bars
        F G
        Follow the music with the code; gallery (full-screen) view
        R B
        Record the mix to a WAV file; open the beats list
        On a knob
        Arrows adjust, Shift for fine, Enter or double-click resets
        In the code
        Click a track label to mute it, click a highlighted number to find its knob, drag an inline slider
        Editing
        Click in the code (or press Edit) to change it. Ctrl+Enter runs your changes without stopping the music, Ctrl+S saves, Esc leaves the code. Changed lines are marked until you save.

        MIDI controller

        Not connected.

        With Learn on, click any knob, fader, pad or button on the deck, then move a control on your hardware.

        Credits and source

        Built on Strudel, © Strudel contributors, under the GNU AGPL v3. This site is free software under the same licence, with no warranty: download the source of this version.

        Hacking the Beats is owned and operated by Built By Signal LLC (builtbysignal.com).

        Songs are credited in their own code, and sounds come from public sample packs that belong to their authors. About this site, credits and contact · Privacy